Posted on 05/05/2002 10:33:21 PM PDT by jdege
May 5 Update -- The Minnesota Gun Owners Civil Rights Alliance (GOCRA) just took exclusive ownership of the corporate names of the two biggest anti-gun groups in the state: Citizens for a Safer Minnesota and Citizens for a Safer Minnesota Education Fund.
Not only are those wonderful names for new organizations that would truly make Minnesota safer -- by enlarging gun rights, not destroying them -- the anti-gunners who spent a lot of time, money and energy building up those names can no longer use them. Nor can they use signs, stationery or other materials using those names.
That shut down the groups' operations at a political convention this weekend and promises to give a great deal of grief to the groups, their officers, and their contributors.
Further, anyone who has contributed in the last three years to the IRS 501(c)(3) tax-deductible CSM Education Fund may have to file an amended tax return -- including American For Safe Government Andrew McKelvey and his personal anti-gun group, a heavy contributor to anti-gunners across the country.
The Minnesota anti-gun organizations had failed to file their annual non-profit corporation registration so their corporations had been automatically dissolved by the Secretary of State's Office. That terminated the existence of their corporate entities and made the business names available for the taking.
GOCRA took the name of the lobbying organization by incorporating a new subsidiary corporation with the now-available former name of the anti- gun group. That required only a one page fill-in-the-blank form available from the Secretary of State's Office and a $135 filing fee. The form was downloaded from the SOS web page.
The gun organization also got the name of the anti-gunner's tax- deductible foundation by forming another corporation which they intend to qualify under Internal Revenue Code Sec. 501(c)(3).
While they were at it, the pro-gun group reserved for 12 months other names they thought the anti-gunners might want to adopt (which costs less than incorporating).
The founders of GOCRA, David Gross and Joe Olson, both lawyers, were close friends and allies on the NRA Board until we were purged in the post-Heston era. But they're very much still in the fight; I attended an meeting with Joe and other grass roots activists last week during the Reno NRA meetings.
Joe and David discovered this opportunity by visiting the Minnesota Secretary of State's web site and checking into whether their own corporations and those of the anti-gunners were in good standing. It didn't hurt that Joe is a law professor who specializes in corporate and tax law.
Neither of the anti-gunner's former corporations were in good standing; both were listed as "inactive" for they hadn't filed their annual registration for several years. The Secretary of State's on-line list of dissolved corporations, which only went back 2 years, showed that the anti- gun lobbying arm had been automatically dissolved 2 weeks ago.
The educational fund appeared to have lapsed even earlier so our guys called up the corporations division at the SOS office and asked. Sure enough, that corporation had been automatically dissolved 3 years ago. Friday morning GOCRA filed the short-form Articles of Incorporation of two new corporations with those names.
Bang, the names were theirs.
The Minnesota Secretary of State's office routinely sends out pre- printed annual report forms to all corporations, so some anti-gunner dropped the ball. Big time.
As good citizens should do, the IRS was notified that the anti- gunner's tax exempt entity didn't exist and hadn't existed for three years. For those tax years, it owes taxes on all its contributions and on the grants from HCI, AGS, etc. Its individual and corporate donors who deducted their contributions will have to file amended returns deleting those so-called "charitable" deductions and paying additional taxes.
The anti-gun group compounded their problems by engaging in a neat little trick, as explained on their web site, of taking ALL contributions above their $35 a year dues, automatically shifting the remainder to the tax-deductible fund, and issuing a tax deduction receipt. If they had only paid as much attention to the filing of their annual forms . . ..
How would your club or organization like to have to notify all of your contributors of this situation? Better check your own organization's status immediately -- although very few gun groups have formed (c)(3) charitable organizations.
The two new pro-gun corporations served the anti-gunners with written demands to cease and desist from using the new corporations' business names on stationary, pamphlets, web sites, etc.
They did this as soon as possible after incorporating. That just happened to be at this weekend's state Democrat-Farmer-Labor Convention. After a while, the anti-gun group packed up their booth and left.
Not bad for 3 days work. My hat's off to Joe and David.
As my friends pointed out in an email: "Most states have non- profit corporations statutes with annual registration reguirements and automatic dissolution after some period. An opportunity like this could exist in any state. Get on the state web page this afternoon (it's on 24/7)."
Can't tell what you might find. Guerilla warfare can be fun.
Members and leaders of Grassroots organizations who are members of the NRA. The NRA has seminars on how to start and organize Grassroots organizations. If you complainers would tell us what your group is doing instead of complaining about the NRA, maybe someone would join your group.
See post 42.
Terriergal, bump this one to your list and 'make someone's day' !
I cant' get on the MN Sec of State's web page. Have the liberals in that office struck back by shutting it down, or is it suddenly that busy?
Stay well - stay safe - stay armed - Yorktown
Just helping you correct that sentence. >:P
In fact, it is impossible to accomplish good ends by use of evil means. If you truly wish to create a better world you must have a spiritual commitment never to go down to the level of your opponents. What's more, you don't have to. Good will always triumph in the end, but only if it is truly good.
Watch the last Star Wars movie. You are going over to the dark side, and you don't even know it.
What then, all's fair in "culture war"? Using such evil tactics is for the greater good?
The grabbing of the names is, in truth, a rather trivial exercise. It's a clever nose-tweak, and it shut them down for a weekend, but in the larger context, it doesn't matter much.
What is really significant about the exercise is that this group of gun-banners has been outed as having had solicited and having had accepted tax-deductible charitable contributions for three years after their tax-exempt status had lapsed.
They are going to owe taxes on their income, and their donors are going to owe taxes on their donations.
And penalties, of course.
And beyond that, each and every donor is going to have a solid claim for seeking damages against the group, for the taxes and penalties that they will be required to pay, plus legal fees, and fees for the accountants who prepare the amended returns, etc.
If the IRS acts on this (and they very well might - the group formerly known as Citizens for a Safer Minnesota have accepted five-figure grants from the usual bunch of national gun-grabbing loons, so there is real money involved here), the organization under whatever name they choose to adopt, is going to be inactive for some years, it's leadership tied up in audits and lawsuits.
And when they go looking for more money from the same people they just screwed so badly...
This should serve as the blueprint for a national effort...
Normally you might call the IRS an evil agency and demand that it be abolished along with the income tax, but here you are gleefully using the IRS for your own purposes. This tells me that your positions are not principled, but opportunistic. You will gladly use the state for your own purposes, and your successes will make you enjoy your newfound power. Why, it's not so bad. You could do a lot of good with that vast machine of compulsion and destruction.
Then you will end up like the demented and corrupt Bill Bennett who urges the government to educate us about right and wrong.
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